14. september 2017 - 12:15

Energy Innovation joins NORWEA

The Egersund-based company is aspiring to establish a centre for training and certification of new renewable energy technicians

We are excited to welcome Energy Innovation, and we hold hopes that the time is now ripe for a sizeable growth in Norway-based service- and technical competency within wind power.

As some of you will already have read in our newsletter from last week; at NORWEA we are particularly excited that memberships are growing among companies that are working towards creating ever more long-term work places in the operations and maintenance of wind power.

This year we also welcomed Proxima, a JV between KKW and Captiva Capital, and an ISP that is committed to making headway in the Nordic marketplace. With OPEX hovering around 30% of LCOE, and with turbine prices continuing to show promise, looking at how we as an industry can become even more efficient in O&M is an obvious task. With Energy Innovation, we are now welcoming aboard a company that is working towards creating a local recruitment ground for the workforce that is going to make all this happen.

Towering ambitions

At Langholmen in Egersund, the plan is build a 30 metre tower that will be used a base for training and certification. In the same location, Energy Innovation plans to set up a development centre – a facility to house all additional training and certification work. Already, there are concrete plans for housing the energy operator course at Dalane upper secondary at the centre. Moreover, Energy Innovation plans in time to offer a complete package of training and certification, for which companies today would have to send their service technicians abroad.

The spot where Energy Innovation plans to establish its activities benefits from its location in a coastal area – and is not least ideally placed in a hot spot for wind power, with power plants in operation and under construction on multiple locations not far from Egersund. The plan going forward is to benefit from the location through drawing on the synergies that should be bound among existing R&D, industry and service businesses in the area. In the words of the company itself: “Egersund Wind Hub Langholmen”. Looking to the horizon, the company says an offshore wind certification centre is also on the table.

At NORWEA we welcome the initiative, and look forward to working with Energy Innovation and many other members as we increase our efforts at aiding the industry in lowering operations costs while establishing many more work places across the country in the wind power industry.